Remote lecturing system

Abstract

A remote lecturing system includes a first storage for storing contents of at least one lecture of a lecturer, a second storage for storing questions and corresponding answers related to each lecture stored in the first storage, a reproducing part for retrieving from the first storage the contents of an arbitrary lecture which is requested in response to an external request from a terminal station which is operated by a student at an arbitrary time and for transferring the retrieved contents to the first terminal station, and an answer obtaining part for retrieving from the second storage an answer which corresponds to a question from the terminal station. The answer obtaining part interrupts the transfer of the contents of the arbitrary lecture from the reproducing part to the terminal station when the question is raised from the terminal station.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A remote lecturing system comprising: first storage means for storing contents of at least one lecture of a lecturer;   second storage means for storing questions and corresponding answers related to each lecture stored in said first storage means;   reproducing means, coupled to said first storage means, for retrieving from said first storage means the contents of an arbitrary lecture which is requested in response to an external request from a first terminal station which is operated by a student at an arbitrary time, and for transferring the retrieved contents to the first terminal station;   answer obtaining means, coupled to said second storage means, for retrieving from said second storage means an answer which corresponds to a question from the first terminal station, said answer obtaining means interrupting the transfer of the contents of the arbitrary lecture from said reproducing means to the first terminal station when the question is raised from the first terminal station; and   a communication network coupled to a plurality of terminal stations, said reproducing means and said answer obtaining means being coupled to the first terminal station by way of said communication network, said reproducing means broadcasting the arbitrary lecture to the terminal stations coupled to said communication network, and said answer obtaining means broadcasting the question and the corresponding answer to the terminal stations coupled to said communication network.   
     
     
       2. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said answer obtaining means resumes the transfer of the contents of the arbitrary lecture from said reproducing means to the first terminal station when no further questions are raised from the first terminal station. 
     
     
       3. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said answer obtaining means includes calling means for automatically calling a lecturer of the arbitrary lecture when no answer corresponding to the question is retrieved from said second storage means. 
     
     
       4. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said calling means of said answer obtaining means transfers an answer received from the lecturer to the first terminal station. 
     
     
       5. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said calling means of said answer obtaining means transfers the answer received from the lecturer to the first terminal station in real time. 
     
     
       6. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said answer obtaining means further includes means for storing the question raised from the first terminal station in said second storage means together with the answer obtained from the lecturer. 
     
     
       7. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said reproducing means and said answer obtaining means are coupled to the first terminal station via a communication network, said communication network being coupled to at least a second terminal station which is operated by the lecturer. 
     
     
       8. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said calling means of said answer obtaining means calls the lecturer of the arbitrary lecture by calling the second terminal station via the communication network. 
     
     
       9. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises recording means for recording contents of a lecture in said first storage means. 
     
     
       10. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said answer obtaining means collates keywords included in the question from the first terminal station with keywords of the questions and answers stored in said second storage means and retrieves a candidate answer which corresponds to a question with a largest number of matching keywords as the answer to the question from the first terminal station. 
     
     
       11. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 10, wherein, when said answer obtaining means retrieves a plurality of candidate answers corresponding to predetermined questions with the largest number of matching keywords, said answer obtaining means transfers to the first terminal station keywords of the predetermined questions not matching the keywords of the question from the first terminal station, so that a keyword most pertinent to the question from the first terminal station may be selected at the first terminal station. 
     
     
       12. The remote lecturing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first terminal station includes means for storing the contents of at least one lecture transferred from said reproducing means. 
     
     
       13. A remote lecturing system comprising: first storage means for storing contents of at least one lecture of a lecturer;   second storage means for storing questions and corresponding answers related to each lecture stored in said first storage means;   reproducing means, coupled to said first storage means, for retrieving from said first storage means the contents of an arbitrary lecture which is requested in response to an external request from a first terminal station which is operated by a student at an arbitrary time, and for transferring the retrieved contents to the first terminal station;   answer obtaining means, coupled to said second storage means, for retrieving from said second storage means an answer which corresponds to a question from the first terminal station, said answer obtaining means interrupting the transfer of the contents of the arbitrary lecture from said reproducing means to the first terminal station when the question is raised from the first terminal station; and   a communication network coupled to the first terminal station and at least a second terminal station which is operated by the lecturer, said first and second storage means, said reproducing means and said answer obtaining means forming a center station which is coupled to said communication network, said reproducing means and said answer obtaining means coupled to said communication network.   
     
     
       14. A remote lecturing system comprising: first storage means for storing contents of at least one lecture of a lecturer;   second storage means for storing questions and corresponding answers related to each lecture stored in said first storage means;   reproducing means, coupled to said first storage means, for retrieving from said first storage means the contents of an arbitrary lecture which is requested in response to an external request from a first terminal station which is operated by a student at an arbitrary time, and for transferring the retrieved contents to the first terminal station;   answer obtaining means, coupled to said second storage means, for retrieving from said second storage means an answer which corresponds to a question from the first terminal station, said answer obtaining means interrupting the transfer of the contents of the arbitrary lecture from said reproducing means to the first terminal station when the question is raised from the first terminal station; and   a ground communication network coupled to the first terminal station and a second terminal station, said first and second storage means, said reproducing means and said answer obtaining means forming a center station providing in a synchronous satellite, said center station communicating with the first terminal station and at least a second terminal station operated by the lecturer.